Paul Quinn College to March Against Trash Initiative

The Dallas city council has not heard the last from the Paul Quinn College community regarding the council’s plans for the Highland Hills neighborhood. A cadre of influential city leaders have joined the College for “WE ARE NOT TRASH: A March for the Future of Dallas” at 10 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 5. The walk will begin at Oak Cliff Founders Park, travel over the Houston Viaduct Bridge and conclude at Ferris Plaza in downtown Dallas.

WE ARE NOT TRASH is an expansion of the “I AM NOT TRASH” movement created by the students at PQC and inspired by the city of Dallas’ response to the food desert conditions of the Paul Quinn College/Highland Hills community. The PQC/HH community is approximately six miles from the nearest full-service grocery store, but less than two miles from the McCommas Bluff Landfill. The McCommas Bluff Landfill is the same facility that the city council, led by District 8 Councilman Tennell Atkins, recently voted to turn into one of the largest garbage dumps in the southwestern region of the United States.

The “WE ARE NOT TRASH” movement is advocating for thoughtful, citizen-oriented decision-making from city of Dallas officials. The movement seeks city leadership who understands that there is no “North Dallas” or “Southern Dallas”. There is only “ONE Dallas” and the citizens of that city deserve effective representative leadership and reasonable access to safe and affordable food.

“The leadership that produced this horrendous decision is out of touch with the emerging voices of the city. Marching north, across the Trinity River and towards downtown Dallas is our way of expressing that this generation is no longer willing to adhere to the geographic, economic and mental boundaries of our elders,” said Dexter Evans, a junior and the student leader of the march. “Since few in Dallas are apparently willing to say these things, we felt that it was time for Paul Quinn College and our friends to make our voices heard.”

The march is expected to attract more than 500 participants and will cover approximately the same distance as the school to the landfill.

“Frederick Douglass told us that ‘power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will,” said Paul Quinn College President Michael J. Sorrell. “We are done waiting on the promise of tomorrow. We are tired of being ignored and insulted. We want a real grocery store today. We want a pharmacy today. We want officials who care more about their constituents and the future of this city than themselves.”

All citizens of Dallas are invited to participate In the march. To register for the march, please call the event chairwoman Elizabeth Wattley at 214-379-5457. For an interview with President Sorrell, Dexter Evans or others involved with the march, please call event co-chair/communications and media relations representative Ashley Harris at 214-379-5561.